E3 2003: Full Spectrum Warrior

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By Aaron Boulding

US Army planners were frustrated that Navy sailors had submarine simulators and Air Force airmen had flight simulators but there was no interactive software to sharpen the skills of the largest branch of the American military. From the minds at Pandemic Studios comes Full Spectrum Warrior, the retail name for the software the US Army is going to be using to help train their troops. The term Full Spectrum Warrior is used to describe the Army's intention to make the majority of their infantry adaptable and functional in a variety of environments and conditions. Whether it's an infiltration mission or law enforcement the idea is to make the bulk of the army capable of special operations and so a standardized set of procedures, tactics and equipment will make the army even more lethal and efficient. The game Full Spectrum Warrior will be a unique tactical-simulation where players will command a squad of nine soldiers in two fire teams. You're not as god-like in your commanding abilities as seen in most tactical games since the soldiers have their own advanced US Army approved AI. The result is you're in control of setting up a series of situations that your soldiers will execute on their own.

All of you out there so anxious to critique the authenticity of military themed games will have a tough time taking FSW apart. Fire teams are composed of a team leader, a grenadier, an automatic rifleman and a rifleman. One of the teams will have a fifth man, the squad leader. The idea is that you're the field commander issuing orders to the squad leader who then issues them to the team leaders. The AI then executes those orders based US Army procedure. For example, squad members will never have the barrel of their weapons aimed anywhere near their fellow soldiers. Left on their own, they'll automatically return fire when attacked by hostiles.

The control system is one of the most unique we've seen yet. You're able to use a contact-sensitive cursor with four or five circles representing the positions of each soldier in the squad. Contact sensitive means when you brush the cursor up against a wall, the pattern of the circles will flatten out in a straight line against the wall to indicate that if you send them there, the soldiers will lineup in a stack. Moving the cursor to open space will put them in a "V" with the squad leader at the point and his troops on his flanks. One of the circles in the cursor is always brighter to represent where the squad leader will be. He'll always be positioned according to Army regulations. When you position the cursor along a wall, but near a corner, the squad leader will automatically be positioned near the corner. In the Army he'd be the one to look around that corner so he can make decisions so that's how it is in Full Spectrum Warrior.

In addition to moving your men around, most of your time will be spent telling them how you want them to behave. Using a giant reticule you can give the fire team a target to cover. The size of the reticule is supposed to allow you to target the fa¿ade of a building for example. All the soldiers in the team will cover everything in that building's area but you can take control of individual soldiers to narrow their focus of responsibility. You can move individual soldiers around within a very limited radius to better put him in position. Knowing how to aim and position your soldiers is critical because you'll never actually be pulling the trigger for them. They'll do that on their own if they can line up a target safely and get a shot off. So it's your responsibility as commander to put them in position to do their jobs. Things like sending them out into the open with out cover or wasting the amount of firepower you can have in one direction by stacking them up incorrectly will get them killed. Leapfrogging the fire teams around an environment so that they're always covering each other is the way to go. Designating areas to cover is supposed to give your men a time advantage. They'll always return fire when fired upon, but having them facing the right direction when they do means they'll be able to react quicker. They'll be less likely to fall victim to a sniper if you're got your men covering logical sniper positions.

Since the US Army wants this authentic they want to make sure you know that you're dealing with young men who will die and be sent home in boxes if you're not taking care of them. Most mission parameters will require you to keep team casualties to a minimum. You'll even notice that younger soldiers will be less precise in their movements or slower to react. It's your job to manage them and mitigate their lack of experience with your own smarts. The US Army says that squad leaders, if they're doing their jobs correctly, should even be engaging the enemy. He's supposed to be in control of the situation and able to keep his men safe and complete the mission. You're the one who has to give the commands to make this happen.

The technology of Full Spectrum Warrior is impressive. It's a third person perspective with a semi-smart camera that zips around as you switch between fire teams but can be controlled when it's time for you to aim and use some precision. When you go to command individual soldiers, the camera zips right onto their right shoulder and they'll turn around and look directly at you. The audio is top notch as you'll hear commands and idle chatter from the soldiers as well as voices from enemies. The weapons sounds are as authentic as can be.

You'll pick your squad members before missions and you'll have some freedom to select their weaponry. You'll never be carrying bazookas or anything like that since infantry is pretty much limited to M4s, SAWs with a few grenades and grenade launchers thrown in for good measure. A few prototype weapons like the OICW may make it into the retail version of the game.

IGN will have more on Full Spectrum Warrior in the months leading up to its Q1 2004 release date because it was one of the bigger surprises of E3 and carries quite a few innovations worth noting.